THE FEMALE FOOTBALLERS. Great Public Display.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8552, 21 May 1895, Page 2

THE FEMALE FOOTBALLERS. Great Public Display.

A Ludicrous Scene. When 10,000 or more people —men, romen and children — feel themselves comtelled to roar with laughter without a aoment's notice and without the faintest leliberation, tha effeot it tremendom. A oar of such magnificent proportions broke oose the other Saturday afternoon on the ftotrads of the Crouob End Athletic Olnb. [t wm canted by the flrtt appearance in jablio of two team* of the " British Ladies' football Olnb," and its like will not projably ba hoard »t BToinsey again. The ruling spirit* ob the Crouch End Athletic Dlub did not accurately estimate the juriositv of the British pnbho. Seating iccomtnodatioß was provided for a few honireds. The thousands stood or perched. Co get; into the grounds by paying was far more difficult than to get; into them without paying, for there was 'bub one turnstile, and' ihere wax about a mile of fencing, the latter not being insurmountable by the young and lofciTe: "Kick-off at 480," said the pro* • gramme. Long before that the ground contained 10,000 or more people, all of whom iesired _to_ be . sjieotatorf, though manjijbf them were able to merely guess at the proneeding* by the yells, groans or roars of laughter of ~ those who were in the front* ' ranks. The fenoe ' that surround* tha "" ground and makes a hollow square of i* ''- when it is not occupied i» about eight fee* "" high. At the top it is * little thicker than '' theback of a handsaw. It was not built for "* fitting purposes but it was used for «uoh, and it was notioed that when those who sat on it for an hour fell off they walked slowly' ' and seemed in pain for 10 or IS minutes. THB PIATSM QVMWTKD. " r Fire minutes passed and a deep silence fell upon the multitude. Then the "lady" footballers burst into the 'arena. Then' "' there was a roar of laughter that permeated the empyrean. Hundreds fell off the fenoe. Tears rolled down the cheeks of men who had sorer been known to weep in public. " Other men who were incapable of deep" feeling of this variety fell upon each other's ; neoks and shoulders for mutual support' ' Small boy* fell into paroxysms." Wonfen'^** ■ailed and blushed. fhe 5 referee, a small man bnt brave, grinned and made dnperaU - •» but ineffectual efforts, to cover' ki» fac* at' ■•' well as hi* head with his cap.* The oblong square of humanity rocked backward a&d <c J i forward, as well as sideways, id a struggle* < v to control its emotions, and those in the rair ranks made stupendous efforts to force - a way to the front in order to tse what had* ' caused < tha- oommotion. The paroxysms'* '"= lasted for seyeral minutes. It left everybody more or lew limp, bat joyous. Mean. . < while the teams, North and South, had ' bepn indulging in a little practiced J This may hare accounted for tome of the gasps'^ '•"• and tears, shrieks and roan; '■'''" ' oosxmnts or tbm nuns, s * ' r The Sooth team wore blue kniokerbooken 1 of the Eonave pattern, and blouses of light and dark bine. The North team wore the, ' . same sort of kniokerbooken, But their" blouses were scarlet, with one exception.Mrs Graham, the North goalkeeper, wore a ' .white shirt or blouse and a blue ' frock that ' ended just below the knee, or, to be absolutely correct, jwt below both knees, for, at a distance at least, her legs seemed to ba of the same length. , Only a small per 'eentage of the crowd possessed programmes ■- or had a knowledge of the platers* names,' ' so they speedily proceeded to coin names, . '* and in many cases these were so ridiculously , . apt .that they appealed to the multitude, - ' and resulted in fresh roars of laughter. ' One of the blues was built on Dutch lines, : and was at once dubbed " Fatty." From - all part* of the ground there were stento. ";] rian requests that she "shouldn't use her"'" weight so muoh." The idea that a " Mrs " should be goalkeeper elioited comments ' that might haye staggered a man ; bat they -. had no effeot upon Mrs Graham, or at any * rate on her play, as she was one of the few ' ~ who seemed to possets eren a slight know* , "■< ledge of her duties ; and her knowledge - was slight, as she showed a desire to be all ' •i $ over the field, and by her anxiety to be of i general uss gave the bluet the only goal c < with which they were credited. MisH "! Olareuoe, the blues' goalkeeper, wm in trouble from the outset, and onoe calmly _ £ kioked the ball through her goal,' and im- .% mediately afterwards disturbed tha e'qi»ai- r mity of the referee^ by asking him if the ■ ■■' goal, did not count for her side. . Some of ' the girls wore their h*ir inknofct, some 1 iff; tails that hung down their backs, while -)- others wore their hair untrammelled, and-, > were ooocpied much of the time in brushing •it ont of their eyes. Somg of them wore > < shin-guards and tome did -not. This mar have been because the shin-guards did not . a improve the symmetry of the legs, and it # may not ; it is difficult to dirine the reasons \ that actuate girl* who play football in public. v OOKKBNT3 O¥ TEB. SPIOTATOBB. There was an upmensity of -comments on the faces and figures of the girlt, and the comment; generally was of a sort to gire one _the utpresaion that a judicious person would not select them for types of English ■■ beauty. One of the reds attracted immedi. ■ ate attention. This v»at Mift Gilbert.. Her appearance oreated'thneks of laughter, but this was more on account of -her- sise andjboyuh appearance than for, any other d i reason. In tha first, place' she looked g. ridioulonriy, ersn insanely, diminutive for a-*a -*, j» foptball game." Theqsho w^s buiit life" » t boy, ran like^a boy, and ,% a, boy who. - uld^run v<Sry iast at the age of ten, and c seemed to know too muoh about, th» . • 'fame form girl of ariy sine, her height beingS about three feet. .The inttejit she 4 a^iS peared she was called " Tommy," and thsr* 1Z were shouts of " Oome out of thatj, Tommy **{ you're no girl." « Tommy " wasj: a. MortS_ t .L forward, and he or the ..was all over the,field, and did more work fchui any. other two players. " Tommy " was knocked down several times. In fact, whenarer there .was ■<-■<*« a aollision in which "Tommy" took, part, „ "Tommy?* bit the grass, or the.mud,iorA», ? the tarf ..was hardly deterring of the namtArS Miss Obree, a South balf-baok. ran weliforr «g a girl, and had really yery little of the > ;t waddle in her gait] but most of the girls, )I ran just like ordinary girls, and as they had ■', ' ' no skirts to ceyer their movements; the '' latter threw the crowd into oonTultions. '^ One girl wore auburn hair. She became '"~ A known to fame as " Gteod old ginger."., A ** frequent ory was, « Sow, Honeyball, baok " < up there, old man." This always caused a ' ' ' roar, as Honeyball generally took matters in " a deligttfally Isisnrely way. " . . A POOB ZKOWXODSB Ol> THB OtUtM- ■■' X Few of the girls seemed to know even the *~* rudiments of the game. They had a feu* ' - ful weakness for off-side, and had' a placid way of asking the referee for advice that ' made the crowd soream with joy. The ball £nuat have weighed several ounces. It was not as lar/e as the ordinary football, and it was so light that when placed for a kick. the mereet sephvr would roll it yards away. Towards the finish of the fint half, when the tcore stood one goal to nothing in ,: favour of the reds, the girls were erHentlv ~ " dead-tired. 'Xhis delighted the crowd, and .- '- there were yells from all parts of the field ' / to " Chuck on another souttle of Goals,* ', "Put on more steam," etc During the intermission tbe members of both teams aucked lemons, although they received numerous offers of " Sootch cold," " rum and milk," even lemonade from the speota. tors. The second half was more f*roiea! ■ than, bnt not to amusing as the first, The blues were dead-tired, and none of the players could run a hundred yards in leu than thirty seconds. A great majority of i the spectators did not wait for the finish. They had not taken the trouble to go to. lornsey to see football, but the " British Ladies' Football Club. They saw at onoe that thsse-miaguided females knew nothing abeot football/ and in a short time had ' -enough of the farce and went home.